Tag: Kafr Qaddum

Children of Rawdat El-Zuhur School (Photo: Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ, Nov. 2014)

SELECTED NEWS OF THE DAY|GAZA – 4 PALESTINIANS KILLED, DOZENS INJURED INCLUDING JOURNALISTS, PARAMEDICSFour Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces during weekly protests across the eastern borders of the besieged Gaza Strip since Friday afternoon. [. . . .] The ministry pointed out that two journalists and four paramedic were among those injured. ___At least 47 others were injured with live bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets, while dozens suffered tear-gas inhalation as Israeli forces suppressed the 39th Friday of the return marches. More. . .~~Photojournalist among 4 injured in Kafr Qaddum weekly marchMore . . .~~Factions call protest at Australia’s representative office in Ramallah against Jerusalem decisionMore . . .|UN ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON PALESTINIAN SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATURAL RESOURCESThe United Nations General Assembly adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution that affirms the right of the Palestinian people to sovereignty over their natural resources. ___The resolution was adopted by a recorded vote of 159 in favour to 7 against (Canada, Israel, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, United States), with 13 abstentions. ___The resolution stresses permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources. More . . .|[THE ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION] OIC INTENDS TO SET UP FUND FOR SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has announced its intention to establish a fund to support the Palestinian refugees. ___According to a press release issued by the organization, a committee of experts from the OIC member states held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the draft statute of the waqf fund for support of the Palestinian Refugees at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah. ___OIC secretary-general Yousef al-Othaimeen stated that the meeting came in light of the worsening financial crisis of UNRWA and its impact on the humanitarian, social, and economic situation of the Palestinian refugees, especially after the US suspended its contributions. More. . . ~~Health ministry, with support from WHO, UNICEF, succeeds in bringing in children vaccinesMore . . .~~EU increases financial support for UNRWAMore . . .~~Distribution of Palestinian refugees registered by UNRWAMore . . .COMMENTARY AND OPINION| HUMANITARIAN AID IS OVERTLY POLITICIZED, JUST NOT IN FAVOR OF THE PALESTINIANSBy Ramona Wadi
The 2019 humanitarian plan for Palestinians in the occupied territories will allocate $350 million for aid intervention, according to Ramallah’s Minister of Social Development Ibrahim Al-Shaer and UN envoy Jamie McGoldrick. The people of Palestine remain divested of their legitimate human and civil rights in order to retain the imposed status of near-total aid dependency. ___Despite decades of humanitarian aid sent their way since 1948, the Palestinians have still not recovered from the immediate deprivation of basic necessities created by the Nakba. This paradox could have been resolved if their rights had been fulfilled with equal enthusiasm. [. . . .] Human rights, it seems, are official opportunities for personal advancement at the UN. Is that not a means of the politicization of humanitarian aid? According to Ma’an news agency, Al-Shaer “reaffirmed the danger of politicizing humanitarian aid because that would undermine and threaten human rights.” More . . .

“JERUSALEM,” BY NIZAR QABBANIOh Jerusalem, the luminous city of prophets
The shortest path between earth and sky

Oh Jerusalem, the citadel of laws
A beautiful child with fingers charred
and downcast eyes
You are the shady oasis passed by the Prophet
Your streets are melancholy
Your minarets are mourning
You, the young maiden dressed in black
Who rings the bells in the Nativity
On Saturday morning?
Who brings toys for the children
On Christmas eve?
The city of sorrow
A huge tear trembling on your eyelid
Who will halt the aggression
On you, the pearl of religions?
Who will wash your bloody walls?
Who will safeguard the Bible?
Who will rescue the Quran?
Who will save Christ?
Who will save man?
Oh Jerusalem my town
Oh Jerusalem my love
Tomorrow the lemon trees will blossom
And the olive trees will rejoice
Your eyes will dance
The migrant pigeons will return
To your sacred roofs
And your children will play again
And fathers and sons will meet
On your rosy hills
My city, city of peace and olives.
—Translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye

From BEFORE THERE IS NOWHERE TO STAND: PALESTINE ISRAEL POETS RESPOND TO THE STRUGGLE. Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint ID: Lost Horse Press, 2012.

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SELECTED NEWS OF THE DAY. . . |OCHA: ‘ISRAELI FORCES, SETTLERS’ RAIDS INTO PALESTINIAN SCHOOLS INCREASED’ The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory confirmed, that since the beginning of 2018 there has been a significant increase in incidents involving the entry of Israeli forces and settlers into Palestinian schools. ___In OCHA’s biweekly Protection of Civilians Report covering the period from 6th to 19th of November, it said that in the West Bank, 63 Palestinian children and nine adults were injured by Israeli forces during four separate raids into schools, one of which also involved Israeli settlers. More . . .
. . . . Background [. . . .] ISRAEL signed the Geneva Conventions on 6 July 1951, and the Additional Protocol III (relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem, 2005) on 22 November 2007. Moreover, it became SIGNATORY TO THE CONVENTION FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (CRC) on 3 October 1991, and signed the Optional Protocol to the CRC on 18 July 2005. All 8 fundamental ILO conventions have been ratified by Israel.
. . . . Related Over 700 road obstacles control Palestinian movement within the West Bank: OCHA|WEEKLY REPORT ON ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY (14 – 21 NOVEMBER 2018)

. . . . Related Israeli Soldiers Abduct Two Palestinians In Hebron
. . . . Related Four Protesters Injured at Kafr Qaddoum
. . . . Related Israeli Soldiers Injure Fourteen Palestinians In Gaza
. . . . Related Israeli settlers vandalize mosque, spray racist slogans in Beit Iksa|HAMAS PUBLISHES IMAGES OF ‘ISRAELIS INVOLVED IN GAZA COVERT UNIT’
The armed wing of the Hamas group has published photos of what it says are members of an Israeli covert operations unit that infiltrated the Gaza Strip on November 11. ___The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades posted pictures of eight alleged members of the Israeli force, including two women, on its official website, as well as pictures of two vehicles used by the force during the botched operation. ___In a statement, the group called on Palestinians to communicate to them any information they might have regarding the persons but provided no further details on the identities of those pictured. ___Israel’s army censor issued a statement shortly afterwards calling on the public and news media not to distribute the photos or information relating to them. “Hamas is attempting to understand and analyse the incident. . . More . . .
. . . . RelatedHow Hamas’ rocket barrage affects Israeli defense policy
. . . . RelatedIs Russia full-on supporting Hamas?. . . . RelatedUnease and apprehension lie over Gaza following Israeli truce

COMMENTARY AND OPINION. . . .| GAZA (YASSER ARAFAT) INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: 20 YEARS LATER
By Zakaria al-Madhoun
On this day, 20 years ago, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat inaugurated Gaza International Airport in Rafah, the most southern point in the Gaza Strip. ___That day was not like any other day, recalled Mohammad el-Baz, who covered the event live for Palestine TV. “Inaugurating the airport was not a normal development for the Palestinian people and leadership represented by Yasser Arafat.” ___Gaza International Airport, also called Yasser Arafat Airport, had one runway 3080 meters long and 60 meters wide. Construction on the airport started in January 1996 when Arafat laid the foundation stone for the airport. More . . .

POEM FOR THE DAY. . . .

“MINT,” BY KHALED ABDALLAH
I walk barefoot into my mother’s talk,
the dusty square, the garden chair, the dancer’s kerchief, the wind,
eyes from windows opposite, a moon dangled between two palm
fronds and another moon at the window.
The dancer has a bird’s fluttering heart that no chest can contain.
A jug sprinkles water to settle the dust.
The flute’s lip is wet with its player’s saliva. Like children’s saliva
on the throat of a balloon. This time your heart’s demons will keep it
like the color of your first school uniform. But if the accordion went mad
the women who believe in luck will say this boy is jinxed.
They would prepare a necklace for him made of two threads from the sacks
of relief flour and the bones of extinct animals and yellow
fangs. I return barefoot to mother’s talk. “Another moon at the window”
“Build some corners in your heart, my love, and hide your mint
plants among them.”

—Translated by Khaled Mattawa
— From BEFORE THERE IS NOWHERE TO STAND: PALESTINE ISREL POETS RESPOND TO THE STRUGGLE. Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint ID: Lost Horse Press, 2012. Available from B&N.

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THE VILLAGE OF BURIN. PHOTO BY SALMA A-DEB’I. B’Tselem Website, March 27,2018.

SELECTED NEWS OF THE DAY. . .

| IN VIDEO – ISRAELI SETTLERS ATTACK PALESTINIAN FARMERS IN NABLUS Video footage showed how several Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers, on Saturday, while they were harvesting olive harvest on Palestinians lands belonging to the residents of the Burin village, south of the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus. ___According to local sources, Israeli settlers from the illegal Givat Ronin settlement attacked two Palestinian farmers by throwing rocks at them and chased them out of their own lands. ___The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reported that “Settler violence and vandalism takes place with full backing by the Israeli authorities. Sometimes soldiers take part in the assault; at other times, they stand idly by. More. . .| VIDEO: AS THE OLIVE HARVEST BEGINS, SO DO THE SETTLER ATTACKS The time had finally come: the residents of Turmusayya, a lush Palestinian village nestled in a valley between Ramallah and Nablus in the central occupied West Bank, had gotten permission from Israeli authorities to go harvest their olive trees. This chance only came twice a year: two days in the spring to cultivate their land, and two days in the fall to harvest the olives. ___When they arrived, they were devastated to find dozens of trees chopped down, uprooted, and rotting. More. . .
. . . . RelatedIsraeli forces chase Palestinian herders out of grazing land. . . . RelatedSettlers chop off olive, grape trees near Bethlehem. . . . RelatedSettlers attack civilians in Hebron. . . . RelatedIsraeli army destroys water pipeline in Kafr Qaddoum. . . . RelatedIsraeli Soldiers And Settlers Uproot Trees In Silwan. . . . RelatedPHOTOS: Israeli bulldozers demolish homes in West Bank villages. . . . RelatedIsraeli fanatics break into Aqsa Mosque|ISRAEL ORDERS IMMEDIATE HALT OF FUEL DELIVERIES TO GAZA Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered an immediate halt to fuel deliveries headed to besieged Gaza in response to what he claimed attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. ___The announcement on Friday follows the killing of seven Palestinians by Israeli forces during the ongoing March of Return protests. ___”Israel will not tolerate a situation in which fuel tankers are allowed to enter Gaza on the one hand, while terror and violence are used against [Israeli] soldiers and Israeli citizens on the other,” the statement from Lieberman’s office read. More. . .

POEM FOR THE DAY. . . .

“A HOMELAND,” BY SAMIH AL-QASIMSo what,
When in my homeland
The sparrow dies of starvation,
In exile, without a shroud,
While the earthworm is satiated, devouring God’s food!

So what,
When the yellow fields
Yield no more to their tillers
Than memories of weariness,
While their rich harvest pours
Into the granaries of the usurper!

So what,
If the cement has diverted
The ancient springs
Causing them to forget their natural course,
When their owner calls,
They cry in his face: “Who are you?”

So what,
When the almond and the olive have turned to timber
Adorning tavern doorways,
And monuments
Whose nude loveliness beautifies halls and bars,
And is carried by tourists
To the farthest corners of the earth,
While nothing remains before my eyes
But dry leaves and tinder!

So what,
When my people’s tragedy
Has turned to farce in others’ eyes,
And my face is a poor bargain
That even the slave-trader gleefully disdains!

So what,
When in barren space the satellites spin,
And in the streets walks a beggar, holding a hat,
And the song of autumn is heard!
Blow, East winds!
Our roots are still alive.

Pfingst, Annie. “Militarised Violence In The Service Of State-Imposed Emergencies Over Palestine And Kenya.” Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal6.3 (2014): 6-37. ARTICLE.

[. . . .] Legal provisions based on racial separation/segregation . . . continue to be applied by Israel over Palestine. Having detained and deported Arabs during the Arab uprising of the 1930s . . . . on the 21st May 1948, [Israel] declared a state of emergency over Palestine, only days after the declaration of the establishment of the Israeli state on the lands, villages and cities lost to Palestinians through the war of 1948, al Nakba. The state of emergency – promulgated for the defence of the state, the maintenance of public order, supplies and essential services, and the suppression of mutiny, rebellion, or riot – has been renewed in the Israeli Knesset every year since 1948. In 2012 the Supreme Court [ruled that] that (Israel) ‘is not a normal country in that its existential threats have yet to be quelled.’[. . . .] The . . . practices enabled through Emergency regulations are intensified forms of instrumentalised colonial governmentality and violence, part of the structure of settler colonialism – of settlement, dispossession, repression, expulsion and containment . . . unquestioned by either the colonial administration or the settlement project. The state of emergency as an oppressive regime is characterised by surveillance, arrest and detention, screening, secret evidence and torture, and the workings of secret services and militarised violence – characteristics evident in Israeli daily practices over Palestine . . .[. . . .] The British Mandate over Palestine introduced land mapping, registration and appropriation; laws on citizenship and collective and individual rights; mapped state borders and movement; and constructed settlement practices and militarized landscapes of control. The assemblage of Israel over Palestine is always in flux, continuing to locate Palestinians within multiple spaces of dispossession and oppression, imprisonment and separation continually remade, constantly assembling spatial arrangements across fluid zones of militarized control. Spatial disintegration and fragmentation . . . assemble landscapes of emergency and re-assemble multiple geographies of resistance. Every location becomes the site for the confrontation between the agency of resistance and the agents of sovereign power and control [. . . .]

❷ . ISRAELI FORCES SHOOT TEAR GAS, RUBBER BULLETS AT PROTESTERS IN KAFR QADDUMMa’an News Agency
Dec. 16, 2016 Israeli forces Friday suppressed a weekly march in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya, shooting rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters at tens of Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli peace activists.
___Popular resistance coordinator Murad Shteiwi told Ma’an that Israeli forces attacked the protesters and fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at the crowd, causing many to suffer tear gas inhalation.
___Shteiwi added that the protest was launched with wide participation of the village’s local residents and internationals, despite the cold weather and rain on Friday. More . . .

❸ . ISRAELI FORCES SUPPRESS WEEKLY BILIN MARCH, DOZENS SUFFER TEAR GAS INHALATION Ma’an News Agency
Dec. 16, 2016 Israeli forces Friday suppressed a weekly march in the village of Bilin in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah, as dozens of demonstrators suffered tear gas inhalation and Israeli forces briefly held an Australian solidarity protester. ___The march, which was organized by the popular committee against the separation wall, set off after Friday prayers, as protesters marched through the village, chanting slogans calling for Palestinians to support Jerusalem, urged for the immediate release of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners Anas Shadid and Ahmad Abu Farah, and the withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the illegal Amona settler outpost. More . . .Related . . .

❹ Opinion/Analysis: LEGACIES OF STATE VIOLENCE AND BLACK-PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY The Jerusalem Fund.
Jada Bullen and Marie Helmy
Dec. 16, 2016 In the wake of Trump’s victory, the world waits with trepidation for what 2017 will bring to U.S. domestic and foreign policy. The future is uncertain for Palestinians and Black Americans, whose parallel struggles have become increasingly highlighted in the last few years.
___Four weeks into Israel’s attacks on Gaza in 2014, protesters in Ferguson held signs claiming solidarity with Palestine. In turn, Palestinians took to Twitter to advise Ferguson protesters on how to deal with tear gas, underscoring the similarities in their struggles. This past August, the Movement 4 Black Lives published a platform stance that calls for the U.S. to cut military expenditures in Israel and explicitly demands divestment from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation. Such acts of solidarity have made vital inroads. But now with Trump at the helm, we have yet to see how this will deter the progress we have collectively made in altering the discourse. More . . .

from Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies
. . . . The restraint policy regarding inciting rabbis was sustained up until 2006. Then the Legal Advisor to the Government, Menachem Mazuz, ordered pressing charges against Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of the city of Safed.[. . . .] Eliyahu published statements on the internet site Moriah. . . saying that the members of the Jewish terror underground that was operating during the 1980s and that had killed Arabs were “completely righteous.” He also said, “I don’t think they are lowly murderers. Heaven forbid! They have already paid their price to society.”[. . . .] Rabbi Eliyahu made a plea bargain with the state to avoid trial on incitement to racism charges, and promised to make a public announcement refuting a number of previous slanderous statements made against Israeli Arabs.[. . . .] Rabbi Eliyahu had no reason to change his views. . . . In 2008, Rabbi Eliyahu called on the government to carry out “state-sanctioned revenge” against Arabs in order to, in his words, “restore Israel’s deterrence.” . . . . Rabbi Eliyahu wrote: “It’s time to call the child by its name: Revenge, revenge, revenge. We mustn’t forget. We have to take horrible revenge . . .”[. . . .] The Eliyahu saga continues at the time of this writing [2013]. In November of 2011, Legal Advisor to the Government Yehuda Weinstein ordered the opening of a criminal investigation against Rabbi Eliyahu as he continues with his racist and inflammatory diatribes against Arabs.

❷ ISRAELI FORCES INJURE 15 PALESTINIANS IN DURA WITH LIVE FIRE, RUBBER BULLETSMa’an New Agency
July 6, 2016
Five Palestinians were injured with live fire and ten others with rubber-coated steel bullets, while several more suffered from tear gas inhalation on Wednesday as Israeli forces raided the city of Dura after midnight in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron.
___Sources at the Palestinian Red Crescent told Ma’an that ambulances carried dozens of Palestinians to hospitals in the Hebron area who suffered from light to medium injuries, with one sustaining critical injuries. MORE . . .

❸ POLICE ALLOWED TO SHOOT STONE THROWERS: BOTCHED REDACTION REVEALS RULES OF ENGAGEMENT +972 Magazine
July 5, 2016
Israel Police revealed its live-fire rules of engagement Monday in response to a court petition filed by civil rights group Adalah. Parts of the document were redacted with a black marker, but was done so sloppily that large parts of the redaction is still readable.
___The Israel Police’s rules of engagement and escalation of force regulations, which were secret until Monday, were written and implemented last December, coinciding with increased violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The document dictates when a police officer can draw his or her weapon, when he or she can fire it, and in what manner. MORE . . .

From Journal Of Community Psychology
This is a classic “limit situation.” As noted, there is resistance, and although this has in part been armed, it is overwhelmingly nonviolent. Most Palestinians have never handled a gun. The two intifadas (uprisings) used economic boycotts, strikes, and civil disobedience as well as the more widely reported violent tactics. However, in certain areas there is a celebration of martyrs of the struggle that emphasizes military prowess, for example, with photomontages that add heavy calibre weapons to their photographs. At the same time there is a rich use of other imagery, for example, the keys that symbolize return, and the murals depicting villages from which people were expelled or fled. One consequence is the overwhelming definition of Palestinian identity in terms of the collective struggle. Although this has its valuable side, there is also a cost in terms of positive personal narratives. . .[. . . .] . . . there is no real boundary between political and community psychology. The political is ultimately about community and the community is itself political, both internally and in its external relations that are reflected in the social psychological life of its members. Community psychological praxis is different in different contexts, but is always concerned with questions of power, belonging, amelioration, and transformation.

❹ “WE’LL NEVER GIVE UP”The Electronic Intifada
Patricia de Blas
1 July 2016
“We love our land and we will fight.”
___So reads a mural painted on a wall in Kafr Qaddum, a Palestinian village in the northern occupied West Bank.
___The slogan, adorned with butterflies in the color of the Palestinian flag flying over a barbed wire fence, is the backdrop to the regular demonstrations against the Israeli occupation held in the village since July 2011.
___For five years now, villagers have protested every week, demanding access to the main road leading to the city of Nablus and other nearby towns.
___The Israeli military closed that road in 2003 during the height of the second intifada under the pretext of providing security to the approximately 4,000 settlers living in nearby Kedumim. MORE . . .

“FACE,” BY DALIA TAHA
A sky fell into
the braid
of the little girl who was killed.
Her face
is a wind in the shadows
of the garden,
blowing without colour
or blushing
when the air rushes through.

As if she knew,
when the jackals emerged
from her shadow and the river widened
in the disappointment
of whiteness.

As if she knew, when the sparrows
ate her eyes
and the sidewalk walked
in her blood.

The woman treads on dead
jasmine, searching
the minutes
for her hand.
She hides half her face,
and the air is filled with
the fingers of nothingness.

She pokes a hole in the poem
so the sidewalks can
wander into it.

The little girl’s hand withers and her blood
slumbers in
the lake.
When God passed over
her name,
she buried her hands in the heights of the jasmine
and covered her nakedness
with the corpses of the invaders.―Translated by Allison Blecker

From Banipal 45: Magazine of Modern Arab Literature. Winter 2012. WWW.banipal.co.uk
Dalia Taha is a Palestinian poet and playwright. She was born in Berlin 1986 but grew up in Ramallah-Palestine. Her first play “Keffiyeh/Made in China” was produced by the Flemish Royal Theater [and] was premiered in Brussels in 2012, then brought to Palestine where it toured 7 Palestinian cities across the west bank. (More. . .)An Interview with Dalia Taha

❸ AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)WHY DONOR COUNTRIES ARE GIVING LESS TO THE PALESTINIANS
Adnan Abu Amer
Feb. 24, 2016
When the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994 pursuant to the 1993 Oslo Accord, the international community undertook to provide it with financial and economic support, amounting to $17 billion since its establishment until today. . . .
___ However, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah announced Feb. 16 that in 2015, the PA received half the usual aid pledged by donor countries. . . .
___A European diplomat visiting Gaza told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The EU may cease its financial aid to the PA in light of the worsening political situation between the Palestinians and Israelis and the lack of a negotiated political process between them. More . . .
❹ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)RACIAL SEGREGATION AS A CONSTANT POLICY IN ISRAEL
Majed Al-Sheikh
Feb. 26, 2016
During its most recent conference, the Israeli Labour Party revived some of the features of what it called the “Compromise Solution”, which it has been promoting since the 1990s . . . . The Labour Party revived these ideas in its decision to prevent a “one-state solution” and achieve its “two-state” vision by adopting what it called the “Separation Plan” . . . . hand over a number of areas in the West Bank and some neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority, in addition to completing the construction of another separation wall around the settlement blocs in the West Bank. More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis+972 BLOGSHHHHHHHHH, WE’RE ANNEXING
Feb. 26, 2016Yesh Din,written by Yossi Gurvitz
Last week Yesh Din published its position paper, “From Occupation to Annexation,” which deals with the way the Israeli government is implementing the conclusions of the Levy Commission Report without any public debate or even an official government decision – an process in which is dragging Israel into de facto annexation of the West Bank, without granting the annexed people their rights. More . . .

“THE THUNDERBIRD,” BY SAMIH AL-QASIM

It is bound to come,
To come with the sun;
Its face deformed by the dust of books.
It is bound to come,
After the wind has committed suicide in my voice,
Something whose wonders have no bounds;
Something called in the songs:
The thunderbird.
It is bound to come;
For we have reached it,
We have reached the summit of death.

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A man kisses the forehead of Naser al-Deen Allan, the father of Mohammed Allan, following news from Allan’s lawyer regarding the suspension of his detention, at the family home in the West Bank city of Nablus on August 19, 2015. (Agence France-Presse/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

❶ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCYPALESTINIAN DETAINED BY ISRAEL ENDS 2-MONTH HUNGER STRIKE
Agence France-Presse
Aug. 20, 2015
ASHKELON, Israel ― Palestinian detainee Muhammad Allan ended a two-month hunger strike Thursday that had put his life at risk and sparked intense debate over his detention without trial by Israeli authorities, his lawyer said.
____”Muhammad Allan regained consciousness and is not on hunger strike,” Jamil al-Khatib told journalists of his 31-year-old client, after Israel’s top court late Wednesday temporarily lifted his detention without trial.
____Khatib spoke after visiting Allan in hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and said his health was improving, though he remained bedridden.
____He was receiving vitamins and minerals intravenously.
____”He is in a good health condition and can communicate with others,” Khatib said.More. . .

❷ From: PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFAEU WELCOMES UNRWA’S REOPENING OF SCHOOL YEAR
August 20, 2015
BRUSSELS, ― The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Wednesday declared that schools are set to re-open for Palestinian children and refugees in neighboring countries in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in the coming weeks.
____In a joint press statement, the EU said this positive and encouraging news has been made possible because of the European Union’s support, as the largest donor to UNRWA, as well as the important contributions from other partners and donor countries.
[. . . .]
____With its Member States, the EU remains the largest donor to UNRWA. EU overall funding in 2014 accounted for almost 40% of the total support to UNRWA. Since the year 2000, the EU has provided over €1.6 billion in support of UNRWA’s work.More . . . Related . . .

UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl visiting the Abu Tue’ma school in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on 14 September 2014, to celebrate the start of the new school year. Photo: UNRWA/Shareef Sarhan

❸ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCYISRAELI FORCES DETAIN 2 CHILDREN FROM KAFR QADDUM
August 20, 2015
QALQILIYA ― Israeli forces detained five Palestinians from the occupied West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum early Thursday, including two children, a local official said.
____Israeli forces raided the town early in the morning and detained three residents. The forces also delivered notices ordering two Palestinian children in the town to meet with Israeli police in the illegal Ariel settlement, coordinator of a local popular committee Murad Ishteiwi said.
____Abdullah Jamil and Subhi Mansour were then interrogated and detained by Israeli police for allegedly taking part in the town’s weekly march, Ishteiwi added.
[. . . .]
____Residents of Kafr Qaddum have carried out weekly demonstrations for four years, often calling for the reopening of a village entrance which has been closed 13 years and is the main route to the nearby city of Nablus, an economic stronghold in the area.More. . .

❹ From: THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTERISRAELI OCCUPATION THREATENS DEMOLITION OF MOSQUE IN SILWAN
August 20, 2015
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM ― The Israeli municipal staff in Occupied Jerusalem notified on Thursday the demolition of the al-Qaaqaa Mosque, in Jerusalem’s town of Silwan, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
____Activist Fakhri Abu Diab said Israel has pursued a policy of arbitrary demolitions in an attempt to mar the life of Palestinian Jerusalemites and force them out of occupied Jerusalem so as to set the stage for settlement expansion particularly around the Old City and the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
____He said demolitions make part of Israeli intents to Judaize the city and wipe out its typically Islamic character.
____Member of the Mosque’s supervision personnel, Sheikh Hani Abu Tayeh, said the Israeli municipal crews, escorted by police officers, ordered the evacuation of the holy site within no more than a week’s time.More. . .

❺ Opinion
From: MONDOWEISSEND OF LOCKSTEP US JEWISH SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL IS A TRIUMPH NOT A TRAGEDY
Philip Weiss
August 19, 2015
It’s all over but the shouting. Politico says that Republicans might not even have the 60 votes needed to get cloture and end a Democratic filibuster that would prevent passage of a disapproval bill of the Iran deal.
Indeed, the most pressing question at this point is whether they can even get the 60 votes in opposition that are needed to break a filibuster and get a disapproval resolution to Obama’s desk. Senate Majority Mitch McConnell himself has all but said overriding a veto isn’t going to happen as Congress prepares to vote on the deal when it returns from its month long recess in September.
____This is complete tea-leaf reading, but here are the last three quotes on Senator Cory Booker’s Facebook page. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough, says FDR. And Constant kindness can accomplish much, Schweitzer.More . . .From POLITCO . . .

“THE WAY,” BY FOUZI EL AZMAR
I shall not despair;
Whether my way leads to a jail,
under the sun
or in exile
I shall not despair.

It is my right to behold the sun
To demolish the tent and banishment
To eat the fruit of the olive
To water the vineyards
with music
To sing of Love
in Jaffa, in Haifa
To sow the fertile land
with new seeds
It is my right.

Let my way
be the reaching of one hand to another
That a tower of dreams be built

This is my way
And if the last price to pay
is my sight
my life
I shall
but will not give up
my way.